At approximately 7:30 pm (Central) on Saturday February 10th, Huntsville Cave Rescue Unit was dispatched to SCCi’s Tumbling Rock Cave Preserve. A visitor hurt his knee on the Wildcat Rock Pile. At approximately 11:00 pm (Central), the visitor was carried out by the Huntsville Cave Rescue Unit.

Special thanks to SCCi Board Members Patty Springer and Steve Davis and SCCi Preserve Manager Nathan Williams for their onsite assistance.

Incidents like this are a reminder that visiting wild caves come with inherent dangers. Accidents can and do happen. To learn more about recreational caving, visit a local Grotto (Chapter) of the National Speleological Society at www.Caves.org.

SCCi, in cooperation with the Huntsville Grotto, is proud to announce that nominations are open for the 2017 John Van Swearingen IV Stewardship Award!

The award was conceived by the Huntsville Grotto in honor of long-time member, conservationist, cave steward, and SCCi Director, JV, who passed away in 2001. It is presented annually at the TAG Fall Cave In.

JV served for many years as the Fern Cave Access Coordinator, providing stewardship of the Fern Cave system and preserve for both the US Fish and Wildlife Service and SCCi.

The purpose of the award is to meaningfully recognize the stewardship efforts of an individual, a group of individuals, or an organization that has provided significant stewardship activities for one or more caves, cave preserves, or karst properties, personally conducted over an extended period of time.

The award, sponsored by the Huntsville Grotto and the SCCi, is also intended to promote long-term cave conservation and stewardship activities, and to encourage and thank those individuals and organizations who perform them.

Please recognize deserving individuals or organizations! Feel free to re-post and/or print for your Grotto and fellow cavers. If you have any questions, please contact the committee at kevin.reeves@huntsvillegrotto.org.

The Southeastern Cave Conservancy, Inc. (SCCi) announces the inception of the Annual Science Awards program to help fund scientific and conservation research projects on SCCi preserves. As the nation’s largest and most successful land conservancy devoted to acquiring and protecting caves, the SCCi understands that scientific research must be part of our mission. We firmly believe that research is essential to conserving karst resources and it is a foundation upon which good stewardship must depend.

We aim to have a well-rounded research program with focus mainly towards cave/karst topics in geology, geochemistry, hydrology, biology, environmental science and archaeology. The SCCi currently protects 171 caves on 31 preserves in 6 states. Any one of these would be worthy of various types of scientific investigations.

The SCCi is now accepting grant proposals from non-profit caving groups, independent scientists, university/college faculty members, and undergraduate-graduate students for conducting research projects at SCCi properties, beginning in 2017. Funds can only be given to a not-for-profit organization or education institution. For this year, there are 3 annual awards of $1,500 each for (1) geology, geochemistry, or hydrology, (2) biology (zoology and botany) and (3) environmental/archaeological projects.

All proposals must be submitted using the SCCi research proposal online. The deadline for submissions is August 1, 2017. A team of reviewers will evaluate all proposals and base their decisions on scientific merit. Decisions will be announced by September 1, 2017. If an awarded project is to continue into the following year, the researcher(s) may submit a proposal for a research extension. Results from the research must be submitted to the SCCi as a written report or thesis. We encourage publishing in scientific journals but the SCCi reserves the right to review each report for approval/disapproval prior to publishing.